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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 48 (1964)

Issue: 3. (March)

First Page: 381

Last Page: 381

Title: Comparison of Recent Shoreline Sedimentation with Stratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous Oil Fields, Rocky Mountain Area: ABSTRACT

Author(s): Robert J. Weimer

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

The recognition of the shoreline of a marine basin is one of the most important tasks facing the stratigrapher. Determining the position and trend of the shoreline aids in lithofacies studies and is the basis for the art of paleogeography. An important depositional feature of some modern shorelines is the Previous HitbarrierNext Hit island on which Previous HitbarrierNext Hit bar sands are accumulating. The Previous HitbarrierNext Hit bar deposit is characterized by a narrow linear, well sorted porous and permeable sandstone, beach structures and littoral fauna on one flank, beach ridges, eolian deposits, and other minor features. Sedimentation along the central Georgia coast illustrates the factors which disrupt normal Previous HitbarrierNext Hit island development and cause abrupt termination of Previous HitbarrierNext Hit bars. A knowledge of these factors is importa t to the trend-pursuing petroleum geologists.

By using lithologic and biologic criteria developed from Recent sediment studies, Previous HitbarrierNext Hit bar sands can be demonstrated as common shoreline deposits in the Cretaceous of the Rocky Mountains. These sands are important petroleum reservoirs and are prime targets in the search for stratigraphic traps. Surface and subsurface studies indicate that the newly found petroleum accumulations on the Wamsutter arch, southern Wyoming, are in Previous HitbarrierNext Hit bar sands of Late Cretaceous age. The trend of these shoreline deposits is nearly perpendicular to the axis of the broad east-plunging anticline. The updip permeability seal on the trap is the change from Previous HitbarrierNext Hit bar sands to impermeable swamp and lagoonal sediments. Because Previous HitbarrierTop bar sands represent less than 1 per cent of the Cretaceous strata, they are elusive targets in petroleum exploration.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists